Walmart Emerges as Unlikely Social Force

Walmart, which has deployed its financial might to squeeze extra gallons of gas out of its trucks and shave pennies off the price of laundry detergent, did something unexpected this week: It muscled its way into a divisive social debate.

In an announcement circulated and recirculated among incredulous gay-rights advocates, Walmart posted a statement in its Twitter feed that asked the governor of Arkansas, its home state, to reject legislation that critics say could allow discrimination against lesbians and gay men.

The bill’s passage “threatens to undermine the spirit of inclusion present through the state of Arkansas and does not reflect the values we proudly uphold,” Doug McMillon, Walmart’s chief executive, said in the statement on its Twitter account.

“Every day, in our stores, we see firsthand the benefits diversity and inclusion have on our associates, customers and communities we serve,” he said. “For these reasons, we are asking Governor Hutchinson to veto this legislation.”

For many, Walmart’s pointed intervention into what amounts to a civil rights issue highlights a cultural transformation underway inside the company’s Bentonville, Ark., headquarters. Known for its insularity and discomfort with social issues, Walmart has studiously avoided touching public policy for the most part, rigidly adhering to its founder’s vision of a company focused relentlessly on low prices and big stores.

But now, generational change, as well as business imperatives and rapidly shifting public opinion on issues like same-sex marriage, seem to have pushed Walmart to take a strong, public stand that would have been unthinkable several years ago.

“They’ve done a complete 180,” said Justin G. Nelson, co-founder and president of the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. “You have a company that frankly was abysmal on L.G.B.T. issues if you go back five years, but has now become an employer that has a nondiscrimination policy that includes sexual orientation and gender identity, that is headquartered in an incredibly conservative state.”

Mr. Nelson added: “The fact that they came out and said that this bill cannot discriminate against L.G.B.T. people, that’s very powerful to say. I don’t know that there is a stronger corporate voice that could have said that than Walmart. It’s been an evolution. It almost mirrors how America has evolved in those issues.”

The company declined to elaborate further on Mr. McMillon’s statement.

Walmart remains under fire for its stance on some hot-button issues, like firearm sales, which the retailer has wavered on. It seemed to move away from guns a decade ago only to reintroduce them at more stores in recent years.

But on the issues surrounding the Arkansas law, Walmart has joined many large corporations, like Apple and Marriott Hotels, in opposing segments of similar legislation that were signed into law in Indiana last week.

That state’s law evoked a boisterous backlash with top businesses announcing boycotts, and the titans of Silicon Valley denouncing the state’s action. As the nation’s largest private employer, Walmart, it seemed, could hardly ignore the spillover and concern landing in its own backyard, as the Arkansas legislature passed the bill this week.

Walmart’s public foray into social issues dates back to the mid-2000s. Under assault by organized labor for its business practices, Walmart started to tiptoe into areas like environmental sustainability — though mostly, critics noted, in ways that would improve its bottom line.

Walmart then surprised civil rights advocates by becoming the first prominent company to back the renewal of the Voting Rights Act in 2006, a decision informed by the retailer’s standing as the nation’s largest private sector employer of African-American workers.

That same year, Walmart joined the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. That was a short-lived partnership, however, as pressure from the religious right forced Walmart to scale back on its promises to explore gay-friendly policies. The chamber dropped the partnership the following year.

But Walmart has again embraced activism directed at the outside political world — and has done so increasingly publicly, not through quiet back channels. It worked with Bob Witeck, a well-known consultant who helps companies develop gay-friendly business strategies, to update its anti-discrimination rules and work with sexual minority suppliers and marketers.

In February, Walmart came out against another Arkansas bill that would limit cities and counties from passing nondiscrimination ordinances to protect gay rights, though, as critics noted, only after the bill was signed into law. Now, Walmart has jumped back into the conversation.

“They’re really thinking about how can they expand their market share and how can they be relevant in the 21st century to every household,” Mr. Witeck said. “They see diversity inclusion as a business case.”

Witeck Communications, Mr. Witeck’s firm, estimates that 6 to 7 percent of the adult population in the United States is willing to self-identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. Their total buying power, the firm estimates, amounted to $830 billion in 2013.

Walmart may even have more immediate, practical reasons to take a stand against the Arkansas bill, said Nelson Lichtenstein, a labor historian and director of the Center for the Study of Work, Labor and Democracy at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

“It would be very disruptive for Walmart if an individual employee, say in the bakery department, who is given an order for a wedding cake for Joe and Jim, says, ‘I’m not going to fill this order because this new Arkansas law lets me,’ ” he said. “That would be very embarrassing, and the last thing Walmart wants.”

The company also has been making changes that would appear to be efforts to improve its tarnished image on work force issues after years of labor disputes. It announced this year that it would increase hourly wages to at least $10 next year.

Mr. Lichtenstein said that Walmart’s past struggles to set down roots in urban areas had also led the retailer to court a more liberal standpoint.

“As the company moved out of Arkansas, and they wanted to move into New York, coastal California, Chicago, Washington, D.C., they’ve realized they’ve got to be savvier,” he said. “Walmart officials see coming out against the bill as a big feather in their cap for the next time they go to New York.”

Its foray into social policy has won it some unexpected admirers. Christine C. Quinn, who as speaker of the New York City Council vehemently fought the store’s plans to open stores in the city, took to Twitter to express her admiration for the retailer.

In contrast to all the uproar back home in Arkansas, it was business as usual on Wednesday when Greg Foran, the company’s chief executive for the United States, gave investors at the New York Stock Exchange a dry rundown on topics like inventory and pricing. While investors asked questions about the wage increase and other bottom-line matters, no one asked Mr. Foran about the retailer’s decision to take such a highly public stance on a social matter.

Mr. Foran did give some hints about Walmart’s long-term approach to corporate transformations.

”I can tell you we’re 100 percent committed to getting this right,” he said, “not just for a year or two, but for a couple of decades.”

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page B1 of the New York edition with the headline: Walmart Emerges as Unlikely Social Force. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe